Lamb Trade Continues To Stumble
Fat and feeder lamb prices continued to move downward this week in most marketing areas. A sharply declining dressed lamb trade generally led the way. Slaughter ewes, on the other hand, found some strength, particularly in San Angelo where the Mexican trade perked up a little.

Fed Cattle Price Makes $74, Feeder Trend Less Bullish
It was one of those strange weeks in the Panhandle when everything seemed to go just right for cattle feeders. After last week’s shaky-steady, tooth-pulling trade, packers seemed willing to take anything that walked, and to pay good money for it.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Patrick Henry’s Fear Of Big Government Has Come To Pass
The writing of the United States Constitution was an incredible accomplishment, which for the first time in history created a new form of government designed to serve the people and not control them. It started a revolution that went all the way around the world. Reverberations of that revolution are still being felt in Eastern Europe today.

Cowboy Artist Is Top Hand With Pen And Ink On Paper
Guthrie has long been known as headquarters to the 6666 Ranch, but it is also home to a talented cowboy artist named Brian Asher. The subjects of his pencil, pen, and ink pictures are the men, horses, and cattle he has worked with.

Plans Abound To Fight Bangs In Buffalo From Yellowstone
North Dakota's plan to test Montana cattle for brucellosis before they can enter that state is "one more strike against our industry," says Fort Peck rancher Walt Collins, chairman of the Montana Public Lands Council. The disease is fairly common among buffalo in Yellowstone National Park, the numbers of which have increased the point where many of them are routinely leaving Yellowstone in search of grazing.

Washington State Initiative Seeks To Minimize "Takings"
Washington is the state whose voters were so fed up with overblown, unresponsive and arrogant government that they turned out the first sitting U.S. House speaker deposed in a century and a half. Having disposed of Tom Foley, Washington’s voters may now vent more anger by striking one of the first big blows against government’s power to "take" private property through restrictive laws and regulations.

Oklahoma Land Rush Unrivaled In West’s History For Drama
The most dramatic human stampede in the American West was the opening for settlement of the 1,920,000 acres of land in the central interior of Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. These were called "unassigned lands" for which the federal government paid the Seminole and Creek Indians four million dollars.

Espy Investigation Focusing On Memo As Possible Coverup
Nothing backfires quite as loud as a coverup, and the special prosecutor investigating former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy is reportedly looking into a suspicious "mystery memo" that may make much noise.

Flood Of Predators Impacts People Now
Government agencies and the popular media tended to yawn when swelling predator numbers bore down on ranchers’ livestock. Now that the situation threatens people, it is gaining some attention.

Parity Still Elusive Goal For Livestock
Parity remains an elusive goal for livestock producers, who in most cases do not receive even half of the parity level for their products.

Gangs Not Just Urban Problem These Days
Gangs are no longer just an urban problem; they’re turning up in the country, too.

Domenici Assignments Include Public Lands
U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has been appointed chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development, and will be a member of the Subcommittee for Forests and Public Lands Management during the 104th Congress.

Pesticide Training Scheduled At Lamesa
Agriculture producers will have the opportunity to complete training for a private pesticide applicator license at a program scheduled here Monday, January 23, at 8:30 a.m. The program will be presented at the Dawson County Community Building, located at South 8th Street and Houston Avenue.

Campbell Offers New Grazing Fee Formula
U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell has stepped up with a new grazing fee proposal that would boost the cost to ranchers by 25 percent. So far, it is meeting with measured approval from the industry, demonstrating that stockmen will accept a fee increase as long as they consider it fair and justified.

Sheep, Goat Raisers To Meet In Junction
The Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Assn. has scheduled its winter tri-annual directors’ meeting for Friday, January 27, at the Coke Stevenson Center here. Registration will begin at 9 a.m., and the first committee meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. The meeting includes a lunch at noon and should finish up around 3 p.m.

"Endangered" Shiner Hearings Scheduled
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has scheduled three public hearings on its proposal to list the Arkansas River Shiner as an "endangered" species, a move that could seriously jeopardize property owners’ rights to use water from the Ogallala Aquifer as well as various streams and rivers throughout the Plains.

Oklahoma Sponsoring Mexico Trade Mission
The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and the Southern United States Trade Assn. are jointly sponsoring a cattle trade mission to Mexico Feb. 5-11.

NCA Says Retail Beef Price Changes Minor
Average retail beef prices showed little change during the past month, reports the National Cattlemen’s Association.

Markets Join Dissent To Beef Merger Plan
The board of directors of the Livestock Marketing Assn. have joined with opponents of the proposed merger of beef industry organizations.

NCA Says EPA’s Claim On Dioxin Unfounded
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) draft report assessing human exposure to dioxin makes unsubstantiated conclusions, according to the National Cattlemen’s Assn.

Feeder Cattle Mostly Steady To Higher Around The Country
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $1 higher around the country last week. The Southeast was $1-3 higher, but River markets reflected a little weakness.

Texas Slaughter Cattle Trade Failed To Break $73 Last Week
Slaughter steers and heifers sold steady in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading last week, never straying from $73.

Superior Video Cattle Sale Offering Totals 67,000 Head
Superior Livestock Auction offered more than 67,000 cattle in their video sale here last week, conducted in conjunction with the National Western Stock Show. Consignments came from 27 states and Mexico.

Angelo Lambs Lower, Cattle Firm To Up
Feeder lambs sold $2-4 lower here this week, slaughter lambs weak to $2 lower and slaughter ewes firm to $2 higher. Receipts totaled 11,285 head.

Junction Lambs Lower, Stock Angoras Steady
Feeder lambs sold $2-3 lower here this week, slaughter lambs $3-4 lower, slaughter ewes and bucks $2-3 lower, stock ewes steady; stock Angora nannies and kids steady, slaughter nannies and muttons $2-4 lower, fat kids and yearlings steady; Spanish kids $2-3 lower, nannies, muttons and billies $3-5 lower. Receipts totaled 6000 head.

Most Cuero Cattle Prices Near Steady
Feeder yearlings and calves sold about steady here last week, slaughter cows near steady. Receipts totaled 1880 head.

Most Fredericksburg Calves Trade Higher
Feeder steers weighing 450 pounds and down sold $2-4 higher here last week, heifers $1-2 higher, slaughter cows and bulls steady. Receipts totaled 2632 head.

Most San Saba, Mason Feeder Cattle Steady
Trading was termed active at recent San Saba and Mason cattle auctions, steers weighing near 400 pounds steady to $2 higher, weights near 700 pounds steady to $1.50 lower, other weights steady, heifers mostly steady, slaughter cows $1 lower, bulls $1 higher, stock cows with calves $25-50 higher, bred cows steady. Receipts for two sales totaled 3036 head.

Mohair Council Meet Set For January 25
The Mohair Council of America has scheduled an executive committee meeting here at 2 p.m. Wednesday, January 25 at the Holiday Inn.

Lampasas Feeder Steer Prices Mostly Steady
Feeder steers sold steady here last week, heifers steady except weights over 600 pounds $1 lower, slaughter cows and bulls steady, stock cows generally steady. Receipts totaled 2000 head.

Domestic Wool Slow, Aussie Wools Mixed
Trade was slow on domestic wool last week, demand light and supplies limited.

Most Kansas Direct Feeder Cattle Steady
Feeder steers weighing 750-900 pounds sold steady to firm last week in Kansas direct trade, heifers 600-800 pounds mostly steady. Confirmed sales totaled 10,244 head.

Hindsight

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull. 
Sitting there in his favorite chair, John looked fairly happy for a change. He was glad to explain:

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
The purebred breeders are at it again.
It has not escaped my eye that the dairy industry has reduced itself to one dominant breed, whereas the beef breeds have increased in numbers like the proliferation of new brands of cars on the highway. 

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
I was in Caldwell, Kansas for the second time recently. This time it was on purpose.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
After Christmas, the shortgrass country caught three days of rain and drizzle on the already saturated ground. Pickups slid close to the barrow ditches and cowboys waded across feed pens to the hay racks. Handouts for the hollow horns and woolies had to be postponed to keep the animals from tromping the cubes into the ground, and spring didn’t seem near as distant as it did before the winter rains.

Views From His Better
By Linda Posey
I overheard some women talking the other day. We were all in a local grocery store and they were discussing the high cost of meat. While I do sympathize, they should be on the other end, the end of the producer.